Bix Posted February 9, 2008 Report Share Posted February 9, 2008 Got this several months ago, and being inspired by Loss's WON posts, I figured that I'd go over some of the more interesting stuff. The "four years of stories" feature at the end of the annual is especially good stuff. Matwatch Man of the Year: Cactus Jack - In 1989, soon after Jim Ross became chairman of WCW's booking committee, he told Steve Beverly "We could take someone like Cactus Jack and build him into the kind of character that you don't have to put a belt on for him to be a star. He's made in the mold of (Bruiser) Brody." - Ole Anderson hated the big bump that Cactus took in his match with Mil Mascaras, sayng that Foley was "exposing the business." - When he came back to WCW for his 2nd run in 1991, he started without a contract while still working for the GWF and various east coast indie groups. In July, he was on 3 first-run TV shows from 3 separate promotions in the same weekend: GWF Major League Wrestling, WCW's self-titled Saturday night show, and Universal Independent Wrestling in the Baltimore area. - The Cactus-Abdullah feud was the first time since the Brody feud that the newsletter fans at large seemed to enjoy Abby. Timeline '91 (I won't include a ton of the most well-known stuff like "Wrestlemania happened' unless there's a less-known detail added to it) January 7-13: - Olu Oleyami's Kongi Sports and Entertainment resumes talks to buy the USWA while Eddie Gilbert quits as USWA booker January 14-20: - Gulf War begins on 1/16, Sgt. Slaughter wins WWF title on 1/19 - IWCCW financial backer Howard rapp threatens to sue stations carrying USWA's TV show, claiming that Kevin & Kerry Von Erich (who were licensing the WCCW trademarks to the Savoldis) still owned the slots personally [My note: Whaaa? I looked in the WONs from the period and couldn't find anything about this. I presume this was bullshit because USWA Legends of Wrestling & Challenge stayed on the air and then were replaced by GWF Supercard and Major League Wrestling, respectively, but I MUST know more about this]. January 21-27: - Joe Pedicino tries to sell the GWF TV shows at NATPE - Jesse Ventura agrees to host The Grudge Match with Tim Brando & Lyle Alzado, but the latter 2 pulled out - Dusty Rhodes returns to WCW as booker and color commentator for Clash & PPV shows - Nick Gulas dies in Nashville at the age of 76. January 28-31: - TBS moves Clash XIV from CNN Center to Gainsville, GA after security threats during the Gulf War - Mike Rotunda quits WCW due to only being offered a 6 month contract extension - Mike Graham hired by WCW as a road agent - ABC airs the pilot for Tag Team starring Jesse Ventura & Roddy Piper February 1-10: - WWF moves Wrestlemania due to a poor advance and "bomb threats." - Clash XIV draws 2nd lowest Clash rating (3.9) and lowest combined rating w/ the replay (5.6) to date. February 18-24: - The Freebirds lose the WCW tag titles to the Steiner Bros. at a TV taping before winning them from Doom. - Jim Herd agrees to a forum with Steve Beverly, Dave Meltzer, & Wade Keller on 4/27 February 25-28: - Bob Costas drops out of Wrestlemania - E! and Atlanta's WXIA TV falsely report that Missy Hyatt and Jason Hervey were engaged. - A Nashville newspaper quotes Ron Fuller as saying "Five years from now, there will be only one wrestling group in America and they won't be doing very well." March 4-10: - WCW fires Buddy Landel for allegedly for shooting mucus from his nose onto a fan. - Jerry Jarrett moves Memphis house shows from the Mid-South Coliseum to the Pipkin Building over a dispute w/ MSC officials. - Roseanne & Tom Arnold drop out of Wrestlemania. - Owen Hart debuts in WCW - WCW Power Hour sets its record Saturday morning rating with a 2.3 in 1.29 million homes [Was it still on at 7 AM then? If so, that's really impressive] - Jerry Lawler to The Commercial Appeal newspaper in Memphis on newsletters: "I deny everything that's in them." - Sid Vicious asks for $350,000 to re-sign w/ WCW. - The Iron Sheik returns to the WWF as Col. Mustafa - Eddie Mansfield to revive indie promotion in Florida - Jim Herd says WCW talnt coordinators think Owen Hart is "too stoic" in so far in his matches for the company. - Michael Wallstreet (Rotunda) profiled on Inside Edition March 18-24: - Vince McMahon gets a positive six page profile in Sports Illustrated March 25-31: - Buyrate of 2.8% for Wrestlemania VII is the worst outing to date for WM. - Paul Heyman signs a new one year contract with WCW while Ron Simmons signs for another two years. - Owen Hart leaves WCw - The Jerry Lawler Show airs its 400th episode - Jim Ross is close to a deal for a weekly talk show on WSB-AM in Atlanta. - Herb Abrams announces that he's trying to put together a Buddy Rogers vs Bruno Sammartino match for his first UWF PPV. Neither wrestler was aware of this. More in a little while... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrisZ Posted February 9, 2008 Report Share Posted February 9, 2008 Ross' WSB show lasted for almost 2 years and it was great stuff because Ross would talk about anything in wrestling with no barriers. Michael Hayes was always the best guest because he would just say what was on his mind. Whenever Ross was busy with WCW commitments, Joe Pedicino took his spot. Good times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted February 9, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2008 Timeline continued... April 1-7 - Sid Vicious agrees to a contract where he would be paid $500,000 and get the world title during the Great American Bash tour. - WWF publicly inflates the Wrestlemania VII buyrate to a 6.1 w/ 820,000 buys. - Paul E. Dangerously & Diamond Dallas Page appear on MTV's Dial Mania Battle [What was this?] - AJPW's TV show moved to 1:30 AM. - Former Tennessee & Alabama star Len Rossi to Matwatch: "What little (wrestling) I watch has little art or science. I think what they've done is get in a position where they can't top themselves." April 8-14: - Sid Vicious doesn't sign contract, tells Jim Herd he's going to the WWF after getting a huge push at the previous night's TV tapings - Every WWF & WCW cable show drops sharply in the ratings. April 15-21: - Jerry Lawler takes 4-6 weeks off to rest muscle spasms in his neck. - Johnny Ace breaks his elbow in a match with Cactus Jack in AJPW [My note: Cactus never came back because of Motoko Baba, infatuated with Ace, blaming the injury on him.] April 22-28: - Jim Herd announces on WCW's hotline that Sid Vicious will be given an early release from his contract the night after Superbrawl, as well as claiming that Dusty Rhodes will return to in-ring wrestling. - Jim Cornette rejects an offer to return to WCW as a color commentator, blasts the company on Joe Pedicino's Saturday night wrestling block on WVEU TV. - Dino Bravo quits the WWF. April 29-May 5: - Steve Austin signs with WCW, will have a new valet named Veronica - WWF Prime Time Wrestling & WCW Main Event tie for #1 in the 1st quarter cable ratings, World Championship Wrestling (Saturday) falls to a 2.6 from a 3.2 the same quarter in 1990. - Jeff Jarrett & Frank Morrell barely escape injury after a firey car accident. - Rick Martel leaves the WWF - Steve Keirn goes to the WWF - Brad Armstrong initially refuses the Freebird Fantasia/Badstreet gimmick before changing his mind - WCW to get slot on Texas superstation KTVT (former home of WCCW's Saturday night show from Ft. Worth) in September. - South Atlantic Pro Wrestling stops tapng TV. - Van Earl Wright of CNN Sports [now the American Gladiators PBP announcer] joins WCW to voiceover the upcoming event promos. - Scotty the Body was in a car accident on 5/4. May 6-12: - Supermarket tabloid Globe "links The Ultimate Warrior (Jim Hellwig) to homosexuals" and alleges that he has appeared in pornographic films. - Ted Turner says WCW is having "encouraging success" on PPV. - NBC cancels Saturday Night's Main Event after the February prime time special drew a 6.8 w/ an 11 share and the latest SNME drew a 7.2. - After their barbed wire match at a TWA show in Philadelphia, Cactus Jack collapses (stemming from his entanglement by the throat in the wire) and Gilbert has to be treated for a strained neck. - Cable wrestling ratings drop to a 2 year low with World Championship Wrestling falling to a 1.7, below the Power Hour for the first time. May 20-26: - Bruce Prichard fired as a producer by the WWF. - On ESPN, Irv Muchnick describes Hulk Hogan as someone "who has big muscles and almost no talent" and says that the Ultimate Warrior "has no talent and probably couldn't do this interview for 30 seconds without blowing up." - Master Blaster & Tex Salenger try to suffocate Robert Fuller with a plastic bag on USWA TV. - WCW was pissed at some "hardcore insider fans" at Superbrawl, mainly "smart" comments shouted at ringside and an obscene gesture on camera after a Missy Hyatt segment. - UWF Beach Brawl will only be available to 155 of the country on PPV. - ESPN strongly warns Max Andrews about the large amount of blood and man on woman violence booked by Eric Embry on their USWA shows. May 27-June 2: - Various older wrestlers refuse to appear at a WWF "Legends" show in St. Louis. - Gordon Solie is dropped as co-host of Worldwide. - Road Warrior Hawk is out for 7 weeks after herniated disc surgery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted February 9, 2008 Report Share Posted February 9, 2008 Beverly was sort of the precursor to Ryder and Scherer - someone largely a fanboy on the outside slow brought inside, causing much of what they wrote/write open to problems. Easy to manipulate, and also willing to roll the Party Line. That annual was great to read when I forst got it way back then. But looking at it about 3-4 years later, it came across far less solid. I couldn't point to exactly what since Beverly so quickly went to "not relevant" that it was pushed out of my mind. I guess the difference being that Scherer and Ryder continued to be whoring shills for so many years that their stuff from 1995-97 stayed in the mind a lot longer. About the only thing from Beverly that sticks in my mind was his defense of Joe P after the famous Liar Or Idiot column by Mitchell. It was a defense the brushed by the truth to Joe P and Bonnie being good people who loved pro wrestling and not worthy of being criticized. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted February 10, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 Beverly was sort of the precursor to Ryder and Scherer - someone largely a fanboy on the outside slow brought inside, causing much of what they wrote/write open to problems. Easy to manipulate, and also willing to roll the Party Line. That annual was great to read when I forst got it way back then. But looking at it about 3-4 years later, it came across far less solid. I couldn't point to exactly what since Beverly so quickly went to "not relevant" that it was pushed out of my mind. I guess the difference being that Scherer and Ryder continued to be whoring shills for so many years that their stuff from 1995-97 stayed in the mind a lot longer. About the only thing from Beverly that sticks in my mind was his defense of Joe P after the famous Liar Or Idiot column by Mitchell. It was a defense the brushed by the truth to Joe P and Bonnie being good people who loved pro wrestling and not worthy of being criticized. What was the Mitchell column about? The Olu Oleyami disaster? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted February 10, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 More timeline: June 3-9: - Jim Herd removes Dusty Rhodes from his commentary role on the big shows. - "Veteran insider fan" Bruce Grummert & the Zajicek twis are kicked out of a WWF show due to wearing T-shirts and shouting insults at Col. Mustafa & Jim Duggan. - UWF Beach Brawl is estimated to have purchased by 780 homes. - Eddie Mansfield's IWF gets TV on the Sunshine Network. June 10-16: - Clash XV draws a disappointing 3.9 rating and 6.7 share. The Flair-Eaton main event didn't gain a substantial amount of viewers, as it drew a 4.3 with a 7 share. - Max Andrews drops the USWA and gets the syndication deal for the GWF. - Dusty wants Flair to step down as an active wrestler after the Bash tour so he can become Jim Ross's color commentator. - Vivacious Veronica is gone after 2 weeks, replaced by Jeannie Clark [Throwing a monkey wrench into GWF booking plans as she was one of the original choices for "The Boss." - WCW(SN) drops to a 1.6, Power Hour to a 1.3. June 17-13 - Jim Herd surprised insiders with comments amounting to "PERSONAL CHOICE!!!!!!!111111111" when asked about the Zahorian trial involving current WCW wrestler Dan Spivey. - Bill Watts passed on an offer to be figurehead commissioner for the GWF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 What was the Mitchell column about? The Olu Oleyami disaster? Yep. It was called "Twenty-Five Million Dollars" and published back in 1992. I put together a bunch of Bruce's columns for him into a book/booklet called "Honor Among Thieves" back in 2003 or so. Pretty much everything I could grab off the Torch site that had been re-published in Wade's "5 Years Ago" and "Ten Years Ago" sections, along with a few other these he'd tossed up for one reason or another. It was awfully good reading... recall that he liked it. He probably should have done one of those self published book things covering his stuff up through 2001 since that would have closed the book on WCW. Anyway... the Joe P thing rocks. It was still applicable in the years after WCW went out of business as all these fly by night promotions sprouted up. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted February 10, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 Y'know, hearing the column name now, it may have been in one of the Torches I got a sample of in '92. As far as the GWF goes, I've gotten the impression over the years that Pedicino was conned by Oleyami. I talked with Jon "Craig Johnson" Horton about the subject when he was on my podcast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cox Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 Keep this coming, Bix. I have a partial copy of this around here somewhere that I received several years ago, mostly the look back at the Matwatch years section. I remember thinking at the time that he had a really good grasp of the television aspect of wrestling down pretty well (I believe he had worked in TV before or maybe even while writing Matwatch) but that other areas were lacking, and that he seemed to get morally outraged over some relatively tame items. Still, I love looking back at this sort of thing and look forward to future installments! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted February 11, 2008 Report Share Posted February 11, 2008 Y'know, hearing the column name now, it may have been in one of the Torches I got a sample of in '92. As far as the GWF goes, I've gotten the impression over the years that Pedicino was conned by Oleyami. I talked with Jon "Craig Johnson" Horton about the subject when he was on my podcast. I think Bruce made a pretty compelling argument that Joe couldn't have been a "fool", and instead was a "liar". That Joe was conned/worked would have had to mean he was unbelievably fucking stupid. While all of us who dealt with Joe on AOL recall that he was "fucking stupid", I wouldn't stretch it to "unbelievably fucking stupid" levels. On the other hand, I think some of us caught Joe in a lie or two or three where he had to retrace his steps... or had to have the AOL Grandstand Wrestling Thought Police come in to save Joe's reputation with a little Post Remover. Bix - I gave you a copy of Bruce's piece that I had laying around. Let me know what you think. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted February 11, 2008 Report Share Posted February 11, 2008 When we get to '89, I'm sure we'll discuss the booking committee in WCW in more detail, but I'm really surprised that Jim Ross was ever the chair. Ross has always majorly downplayed any influence had from '89-'92, but it seems he had quite a bit, as far as recruiting talent, booking, and also formatting shows. I remember Bruce Mitchell doing a column criticizing him for giving himself so much face time during this time period, which the first time I read I really thought was ridiculous, until I started watching a lot of old WCW TV and realizing just how overexposed he was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Jim was overexposed... but to a degree it was half acceptable: (a) Tony bailed at some point in 1989. Probably clear to him that Ross was moving ahead of him... Ross was probably more of an office politician than Tony was at that point. Vince also probably made Tony the usual promises that never would come true. ( While the rest of the announcers weren't shitty (well... Gordon sucked cock at that point), Bob Caudill was getting phased down... and the company didn't really have good fallback's I think Ross probably had a streak in him in this period of not hiring someone who could take his spot. So instead he was more than happy to hang onto the non-threatening Bob Caudill's of the world or throw a bone to the drunken Gordon. Given that, I could see rolling out Ross a crapload. One of the other problems is that syndication and other nonsense meant that they put out more TV than they probably needed and should have. TBS also added shows as well, and Jim was in the middle of them. It would have been best to get a decent #2 if they were thinking of phasing Bob out. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted February 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 You're forgetting that they brought in Lance Russell as a semi-replacement for Schiavone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 That's right... and Lance ruled. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjh Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 When we get to '89, I'm sure we'll discuss the booking committee in WCW in more detail, but I'm really surprised that Jim Ross was ever the chair. Ross has always majorly downplayed any influence had from '89-'92, but it seems he had quite a bit, as far as recruiting talent, booking, and also formatting shows. I'm sure I read somewhere how Ross was Jim Herd's closest confidant in WCW when he was president and how they spent a lot of time at the bar together discussing the business. Maybe Cappetta's book? And of course, when Watt's came in he was his right hand man. I'm not surprised he downplays his influence in WCW at the time, because those years are widely viewed as business failures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boondocks Kernoodle Posted February 13, 2008 Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 (a) Tony bailed at some point in 1989. Probably clear to him that Ross was moving ahead of him... Ross was probably more of an office politician than Tony was at that point.It was actually Steve Beverly himself who was responsible for this. He had the ear of someone at TBS and he told them that the Saturday night show should only have one host. So Ross was kept, Tony was removed from that spot and he left the promotion for a time. Then, in an interesting post-script, Beverly was someone's phone-a-friend on Who Wants to be a Millionaire 12 years later and gave him the wrong answer, and Schiavone totally sonned him on commentary on Nitro. It was all in East Coast J's WCW Observer Quotes thing on DVDVR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted February 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 Actually, Jeff Carr at TBS wanted one host for TBS and one for syndication. Beverly said he should use Ross for TBS because he was the stronger personality. Schiavone saw it as a demotion and quit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted February 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2008 Let's see how much of this damn timeline I can get done so I can summarize "Four Years of Stories" sooner... June 24-30: - An inside source(~!) tells Matwatch that the Flair-Luger match scheduled for the Great American Bash PPV on July 14 will not take place. July 1-7: - The Flair shit goes down here, nothing here that's not common knowledge. - The first 2 GWF tapings draw 1,200 and 1,500 to the Global Dome/Sportatorium. - The LPWA postpones TV tapings due to monetary issues. - Dave Meltzer goes over the steroid scandal in Sports Illustrated's Scorecard. July 8-14: - Buddy Landel fired from the GWF for no-showing the July 12 TV taping. - Hulk Hogan makes THAT appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show, prefaces statements with the word "basically" 22 times. July 15-21: - Jim Herd announces that he's closing the open dialogue w/ newsletters becaue "I'm tired of being beaten up all the time" and denies that he asked Ric Flair to take a large pay cut during negotiations. - Under an assumed name, John Arezzi goes to Vince McMahon's news conference about his drug testing program and asks why more of the "wrestling media" was not invited. - Jim Ross suffers a kidney stone attack, misses a WCW TV taping for the first time ever. July 22-28: - Prime Time Wrestling is the highest rated cable show of the 2nd quarter w/ a 2.6, followed by All-American Wrestling with a 2.5. World Championship Wrestling drops to a record low 2.2. - A "Georgia Red Clay Mudbath Match" is dropped from the September 5 Clash of the Champions. - WCW agrees to a 2 year, 44 show deal w/ Center Stage Theatre after the GWF tries to get the venue for its TV tapings. July 29-August 4: - Eddie Gilbert decides against going back to WCW when he finds out that he'll be a babyface. - Stories circulate that WCW is talking with Bill Watts, Ole Anderson, and the Gagnes. - WWF TV tapings spoil Summerslam title changes. - Jim Cornette & Stan Lane send a $200 black wreath to WCW offices. The enclosed card read "Our deepest sympathies on the death of your promotion." - Dennis Brent announces on WCW's hotline that they will begin testing for steroids. Jim Herd denies it. [My note: LOL.] August 5-11: - Herb Abrams threatens to sue the GWF over use of the "Wet 'n' Wild" team name that he claims to have "copyrighted." [Herb's mistake or Steve's? I dunno.] - WCW announces that it will move its syndicated show in the NY market from WPIX to WCBS on September 21. - Tommy Rich is arrested for marijuana posession in LaGrange, GA. - Jim Herd throws a fit at Alex Marvez for reporting that he's about to be fired. - Vince McMahon invites wrestling newsletter editors & radio talk show hosts to Titan Towers for a meeting on Augest 22. - Jerry Jarrett works out a deal with the Mid-South Coliseum and resumes weekly shows there. August 12-18: - A bunch of shit hits the fan, as Matwatch quotes Jim Herd "suggesting Ric Flair was untruthful." Dennis Guthrie (Flair's lawyer) threatens a lawsuit against Matwatch. Beverly stands by the quote but explains that it wasn't his intention to knock Flair. Herd claims that the quote was off the record and never speaks to Beverly again. - Nikita Koloff quits WCW over $ issues. - Bob Caudle takes over as host of South Atlantic Pro Wrestling. - WMC moves USWA Championship wrestling from its traditional 11 AM slot to 10 AM. - Paul E. Dangerously challenges Howard Stern to a debate. - Kevin Sullivan is fired from WCW effective August 31. - Steve Beverly announces that Matwatch will fold efffective January 27, 1992. August 19-26: - The Genius (Lanny Poffo) replaces Coach (John Tolos) as manager of The Beverly Brothers. - A memo announces the long-awaited (sort of) debut of The Hunchbacks at Halloween Havoc, but it doesn't happen. - Herb Abrams cancels a UWF TV taping as reports circulate that the promotion is almost done. - The 2nd 2 weeks of GWF shows on ESPN draw a 1.1 rating, the highest daytime wrestling number ever on ESPN. - Vivian Vachon dies in a car accident. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted February 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2008 September 3-8: - GWF on ESPN rating rises to 1.2 for the 3rd 2 weeks. - ESPN rejects Verne Gagne's attempt to get the AWA back on the network. - ESPN asks the GWF for 46 first-run shows in the 4th quarter of 1991, but Pedicino says that it will be too expensive to produce without being paid for it. - September 5 Clash draws a 3.7, lowest rating in the history of the specials. The show peaked at a 4.3 for the Luger-Simmons contract signing. - Ric Flair signs his WWF contract, with his first match vs Hulk Hogan scheduled to be October 25 in Oakland. September 9-15: - Mexican wrestlers and referees strike over a reported deal for EMLL TV to air in prime time. - The Florida House of Representatives schedules a hearing for October 8 to discuss regulating pro wrestling. - Jim Herd is elected president of the NWA as part of the manuvering to get the big gold belt back from Ric Flair. September 16-22: - Jim Crockett returns to day to day work in WCW. - Florida hearings postponed to November 5. - Matwatch begins 8 part story on the 50th anniversary of pro wrestling on TV [i want this.] - Tom Zenk arrested on September 19 in Clayton County, GA for simple battery and posession of both marijuana and steroids. - WCW fires One Man Gang when he refuses to job to P.N. News. - Billy Black & Joel Deaton are fired from Georgia All-Star Wrestling & the GWF when they ask for $500 per show. September 23-29: - Tom Zenk is released from jail after posting $36,000 bond. - Vince McMahon leaks plans for the back to back PPV experiment with Survivor Series & This Tuesday in Texas. - Bam Bam Bigelow appears on Candid Camera. - Freezer Thompson gets a push in the USWA after being a TV job guy forever. - Tor Berg gets financing to at least keep the LPWA alive for another TV taping. September 30-October 6: - The WWF fires 26 workers due to budgetary concerns. - WCW hires Madusa to be a wrestler & manager. - Prime Time Wrestling wins the quarterly cable rankings again with a 2.7, down from a 3.0 in 1990. - Canada announces its first PPV will be Survivor Series [i'm 99% sure I have tapes of Canadian WWF TV before this that contradicts this] - The Lucha Libre strike is close to a resolution. October 7-13: - Paul Heyman is suspended from WCW by Jim Herd on October 7 for "philosophical differences, pending review." Both sides claim that it's not a publicity stunt. - Eddie Gilbert calls John Arezzi's Pro Wrestling Spotlight radio show and demands that WCW replace Jim Herd with Jack Petrik, or else the company will die. Gilbert then cancels his planned USWA title win from Jerry Lawler while blaming Herd, Lawler, Jerry Jarrett, & Jim Ross for Heyman's suspension as part of scapegoating over the WCW/USWA co-promotion idea (which was to include a joint TV taping in Memphis featuring a Lawler-Luger unification match) being dropped - Steve Planamenta, the WWF's head of PR, appears on The Larry Katz Show. - Kerry Von Erich hospitalized near his home. - Florida independent wrestler Chris Proctor is stabbed October 14-20: - Jerry Jarrett responds to Eddie Gilbert: "That's his oinion and he's entitled to it...Eddie Gilbert's accounts of the facts in this matter are inaccurate. In fact, there is a great disparity between his radio interview and reality." - Jim Herd will not respond or clear Jim Ross to make his own response. - "A 'dump Herd' campagin begins on two wrestling computer bulletin boards." - A court date of November 7 is set in the Flair-NWA dispute over the big gold belt. - Sid Justice is on the shelf indefinitely after tearing his bicep. - Jim Cornette states that he has no desire to go to WCW or the WWF in an interview on the Cable Radio Network. - Buddy Rogers quelches rumors that he was to appear for Abrams' UWF, noting that he's never spoken to Abrams. - WCW drops color commentators. October 21-27: - Paul Heyman (after a news conference for the New York media at the China Club on October 25) agrees to return to WCW as Rick Rude's manager to start the Dangerous Alliance. - Barry Windham breaks his wrist in 4 places at the October 22 WCW TV taping - Ricky Steamboat quits the WWF after 8 months with no push and refusing to do jobs in openers. - Sid Justice has surgery on his bicep. - Brad Armstrong's Arachnaman gimmick debuts. - Ric Flair tapes his first angle with Hulk Hogan, where the Undertaker attacks Hogan with the urn. - Flair says that he's willing to give up the big gold belt for $50,200. October 28-November 3: - ESPN renews the GWF for the entirety of 1992. - The Handsome Stranger leaves the GWF for WCW. - With ratings falling, Vince McMahon repackages Prime Time Wrestling, switching from the comedy-heavy show with a live audience to a McLaughlin Group parody. - Jushin "Riger" signs with WCW to work Christmas week. - Bobby Eaton, Arn Anderson, Larry Zbyszko, and Steve Austin join the Dangerous Alliance. - Ric Flair vs Roddy Piper draws only 6,000 to Madison Square Garden. November 4-10: - Prime Time Wrestling drops to a record low rating of 1.9 with a 2.7 share. - Ed Gantner's mother testifies during the Florida hearings about his deterioration and death stemming from steroid abuse. - Curt Hennig replaces Bobby Heenan as Ric Flair's ringside manager when Jim Cornette rejects an offer for the job. - WWF's decoy main event for This Tuesday in Texas is Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomk Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 Freezer Thompson gets a push in the USWA after being a TV job guy forever. WHAT??? Ok Freezer Thompson is always really impresive jobber as he's big fat guy who will bump big and always wondered why never saw him jobbing anywhere else. As really always need for big guy jobbers in a Rusty Brooks mold. I don't remember him ever getting a push. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted February 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2008 I accidently hit F5 while finishing the timeline summary and am suitably annoyed. I may skip ahead to "Five Years of Stories" next while making sure to type it in an external application. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMFabianoRPL Posted June 3, 2009 Report Share Posted June 3, 2009 Anyone got any more? You do know, BTW, that Steve Beverly went from being a wrestling smark reporter to being a game show smark reporter: http://www.tvgameshows.net/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted June 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 3, 2009 If I ever go back to this I'll jump to the "Five Years of Stories" deal that's the meat of the annual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 If I ever go back to this I'll jump to the "Five Years of Stories" deal that's the meat of the annual. Someone probably could go to Beverly pretending to be a fanboy of his and ask to be able to scan it in. "Lots of guys loved Matwatch. The 1991 Annual is one of the greatest pieces of newsletter writing ever. People need to read this, Steve!" Then OCR the thing. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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